The Purification of Sins

Having achieved the purification of sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God, where he now intercedes for us as our faithful High Priest.

A key point of the Letter to Hebrews is Christ’s victory over sin for his people and his consequent exaltation to the “right hand” of God as their High Priest. Jesus secured what none of his predecessors could ever do. Through his “once for all” sacrifice, he “achieved the purification of sins” and “sat down” in the “true and greater Tabernacle” where he now intercedes for us.

Jesus has been exalted to this high position because he achieved the “purification of sins” through his sacrificial death; therefore, he dealt definitively with the sins of his people for all time. The Letter’s opening paragraph anticipates the later discussions about his priesthood, the “New Covenant,” and “his better” sacrifice.

[Clean water - Photo by Nathan Dumlao (Los Angeles) on Unsplash]

In Chapter 2, the Letter to the Hebrews describes the priestly qualifications of the Son. He participated in human nature and experience in every way but “without sin.” Through his death, he disarmed the Devil and freed his “brothers” from bondage to the “fear of death.” And so, the “Son” became their “faithful and sympathetic” High Priest because of his sacrifice - (Hebrews 2:5-18).

Similarly, in chapters 9 and 10, we read of Christ’s “once for all” sacrifice for sin that will never be repeated. His death accomplished our sanctification and the cleansing of our conscience from the stain of sin. Unlike the repeated animal sacrifices of the Levitical priesthood, Jesus died once and accomplished total victory over sin through that single sacrificial act - (Hebrews 9:26, 10:1-29).

The image of Christ sitting “at God’s right hand” is drawn from the Second Psalm. In Hebrews, the emphasis is not on his exaltation as the Messianic King who rules the nations, but on his appointment as our High Priest – (Psalm 2:6-9, 110:1, Compare Hebrews 7:25).

The phrase “purification of sins” is based on the Levitical System and its multitude of sacrifices designed to remove ritual impurities, the stain of sin. The image of a priest who “sits down” in God’s presence echoes the annual Day of Atonement and the rituals performed in the Holy Place by the Aaronic high priest, but with a distinct difference.

Under the “former” covenant, the High Priest entered the Sanctuary only once each year on the Day of Atonement and offered animal blood to cleanse the stain of sin accumulated over the previous year, and he never sat down or remained in the inner sanctum for more than a brief period.

In contrast to the Levitical High Priest, Jesus entered the true Sanctuary “once for all” and “sat down” where he remains to this day, interceding for us. Rather than animal blood, he offered his own blood, which purified his people from the stain of sin forevermore - (Leviticus 16:1-34).

This modified picture stresses the finality and completeness of his priestly act. Jesus will remain in his Father’s presence in the “real Tabernacle” interceding for his people until God again “introduces the firstborn Son into the habitable earth” – (Hebrews 1:6).

HE SAT DOWN

The term “sat down” alludes to another passage of great importance to the Author of Hebrews. The text from the Psalms cited by the Letter prophetically summoned the Messiah, the “High Priest after the order of Melchizedek,” to do this very thing:

• “Yahweh said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool <...> Yahweh has sworn and will not repent, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” - (Psalm 110:1, 4. Compare Hebrews 12:1-2).

• “We have such a high priest who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched not man” - (Hebrews 8:1-2).

• “And every priest indeed stands day by day ministering and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never put away sins. However, he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins once and for all, sat down on the right hand of God” - (Hebrews 10:11-12).

The passage from Chapter 10 contrasts the position of the Levitical priests with that of the “High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.” The ancient priests “stood” in the Sanctuary while performing their duties, but Jesus “sat down” in the Greater Tabernacle, “not made with hands,” namely, God's presence “in the Heavens.”

The repeated animal sacrifices performed by the Levitical priests were incapable of “putting away” the stain of sin or cleansing our conscience “from dead works.” However, the single sacrifice of the Son did exactly that, and he did so “once for all” – (Hebrews 9:14, 10:10).

Especially for these reasons - the removal of sin’s stain and the Son’s intercession for his people - the “Word of the Son” is superior to all others, surpassing even the word given “in the prophets” or mediated through “the angels” to the greatest of the prophets, Moses, the Great Lawgiver – (Hebrews 3:1-6).

To disregard this vastly superior word given by God through His Son is a transgression of the worst kind, one that will bring disaster upon the offender, not only for his disobedience, but even more so for treating the sacrifice of Jesus with such utter contempt - (“How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” – Hebrews 2:3).

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SEE ALSO:

• Then He Sat Down - (Jesus is the Son whom God appointed as our merciful and faithful High Priest after his suffering, death, and resurrection)

• His Incomparable Covenant - (Jesus inaugurated the superior New Covenant through his Death and Resurrection, rendering the old covenant obsolete – Hebrews 8:6-13)

• Shadows and Substance - (The types and shadows of the old covenant find their substance in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, in his priesthood and New Covenant – Hebrews 8:1-5)

• Priest and Tabernacle - (Jesus is the High Priest of the greater heavenly sanctuary made without hands that prefigured the Tabernacle in the wilderness)