The amazing character of Christ’s decisive achievement at Calvary is indicated in Scripture, particularly in the Epistle to the Hebrews, by the various ways in which we are told that (as soon as by His obedience through suffering unto death he was “made perfect,” (Heb. 2:9-10, see vv. 7-9) He was immediately hailed and acclaimed by God. There are three relevant passages.
“Sit Thou on My right hand till I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet” (Heb. 1:13, from Ps. 110:1).
First, Jesus was hailed as the victor, who had done all that God required, and who was worthy to be rewarded. So, without being given more to do in heaven to complete His work, He was told by God Himself at once to occupy the seat of supreme power in the universe at God’s right hand, and God Himself promised to see that all His enemies were brought into subjection to His Lordship.
The same truth is as emphatically indicated by Paul who says, “Wherefore,” that is, because of Christ’s earthly obedience unto the death of the cross, “God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). Paul also says, when God displayed the strength of His might in raising Christ from the dead not that He exalted Him to heaven to continue and complete His atoning work, but that He “made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and He put all things in subjection under His feet” (Eph. 1:19-22).
“Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 5:6, 10, from Ps. 110:4).
Second, in contrast to the ineffective Levitical priests, whose incessant offerings could never take away sin, as soon as Jesus had fulfilled the purpose of the incarnation, and had done the will of God on earth by offering His human body in sacrifice, He was hailed by God as the only true effective priest, who like Melchizedek, the scriptural figure of the true, would be able to occupy the throne for ever, and henceforth give gifts of royal bounty to all who sought His priestly aid.
He was, says the writer to the Hebrews, so “named” or addressed by God as “a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” as soon as—through His earthly suffering—He had been “made perfect” and thus had become able to save men eternally (Heb. 5:7-10).
Again, the same writer says that it is because Jesus has successfully entered the sanctuary that He has clearly become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (6:20). It was, therefore, by the propitiatory work which Jesus finished on the cross that He thus fulfilled His calling as the one true, heavenly and eternal high priest, and entered at once into its royal consummation.
“Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee” (Heb. 1:5; 5:5, from Ps. 2:7; see Acts 13:33).
Third, Jesus, brought up from the dead, was immediately hailed as the Son to whom in His humanity God had given resurrection glory as the firstborn from the dead (see 1 Cor. 15:20; Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5), the firstborn, that is, of the new creation, the redeemed community for whom He died, whose similar resurrection was thereby assured. For it was God’s foreordained purpose that the Son should not only Himself as man be begotten again from the dead, but also that He should be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29; cf. Heb. 2:12). His resurrection was the proof and the seal that He could and would raise or build a Church, and that the gates of Hades or Death were no longer able to prevail against it or prevent it (Mt. 16:18).
The same prospect of perfection for all the people of the new eternal covenant inaugurated by Christ’s death is regarded by the writer to the Hebrews as assured by the fact that God has brought again from the dead “our Lord Jesus,” as the head of His people, “the great shepherd of the sheep” (Heb. 13:20-21). Here, in one of the closing prayers of this epistle, there is no place given to any suggestion that further propitiatory work in heaven is necessary to win our full salvation. The exalted Jesus is obviously already and forever able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him (Heb. 7:25).
The additional wonder is that such coming by us into God’s presence is now possible simply and solely on the ground of Christ’s finished work. For, when He entered God’s presence by the road of suffering, He did so in our interest as our “fileleader” (Heb. 2:10, “author”) or “forerunner” (Heb. 6:20). This is the outstanding achievement of His priesthood.
His success was of such a kind that we now have, inaugurated for us by His death, a new and living way into the inmost sanctuary (Heb. 10:18-22). Because our Great High Priest has passed through the heavens, we are invited to come, and to come without misgivings in outspoken confidence, to what we shall now find to be a throne of grace, and when we come we find enthroned there the living and glorified Christ, “Jesus, the Son of God,” waiting and able to function as our great high priest by ministering directly and sympathetically to our need, or speaking to God on our behalf (Heb. 4:14-16; 7:25).
• Justice demanded it (Ezek. 18:4-9)
• Mercy ministers because of it (Lk. 24:46-47)
• Sin called for it (Rom. 4:25)
• Wrath is met by it (Rom. 5:9)
• Holiness is upheld by it (Rom. 3:26)
• Law required it (Gal. 3:13)
• Wisdom is displayed by it (1 Cor. 1:24)
• The Scriptures are fulfilled through it (Rom. 1:2)
• Power is released by it (1 Cor. 1:24)
• The sinner perishes without it (Acts 4:12)
• God is glorified by it (Eph. 5:2)
Written by Alan M. Stibbs