An Eternal Redemption
To secure an eternal salvation, according to the eternal Gospel that we preach, there must be an eternal redemption. This is so that God’s adopted children will receive eternal life and an eternal inheritance. These are some of the promises in God’s eternal covenant, cut with the precious blood of the Lamb of God.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Rev 5:6, 12), according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23), who works all things after the counsel of His sovereign free will (Eph 1:11). This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph 3:11).
At the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal 4:4). Jesus Messiah came to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21), which is why He bore our sins in His body at the cross (1 Pet 2:24). His death was a purchase of His church (Acts 20:28), with the currency of His precious blood of the eternal covenant (1 Pet 1:19; Heb 13:20).
Using the economic terms of Scripture, we see Jesus as the high priest of good things to come (9:11). In the old covenant system of divine worship, the high priest entered the holy of holies only one day each year (Yom Kippur). He slaughtered a one-year-old bull and presented the blood of the bull as a sin offering for himself and his family. He sprinkled the blood of the substitute on the solid gold mercy seat, atop the ark of the covenant in the holiest place, where God met with His people to do business regarding their sins.
Once the high priest made atonement for sins with the blood of the bull, he emerged to slaughter a second animal. The unblemished goat was paired with a second goat. One was slaughtered and one served as a scapegoat which lived on, following the ceremony (Lev 16).
With the blood of the slain goat, the high priest entered the holiest of holies to atone for the sins of the whole nation of Israel. The twelve tribes were represented by the 12 precious jewels on the high priest’s vest. This clearly illustrates the particular redemption of a select group — not everyone, everywhere head for head. Thus, the blood atonement was limited to God’s chosen remnant people, who He graciously chose for salvation before the foundation of the world, when He predestined them to adoption as sons (Rom 11:5–6; Eph 1:4–5).
Jesus of Nazareth, our great high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, entered the greater and more perfect tabernacle (9:11). He passed through the heavens to the true tabernacle that the Lord pitched, not man (Heb 8:2). He entered the holy place of heaven, once for all His people, once for all time (9:12).
Christ, the better high priest than Aaron, offered Himself as the better sacrifice for the sins of many (9:28), who were slaves of sin in Adam (Rom 6:6; 1 Cor 15:22). Jesus paid the ransom for many to be freed from the condemnation derived from the inherited sin of Adam, a sin nature, and the practice of sinning against the offended, holy God (Mt 28:20; Mk 10:45). The ransom paid was for every soul who belongs to Him (1 Tim 2:6), that is, those who the Father gave to Him before creation (Jn 17:2, 6, 24; 18:9). Of these, Jesus promised He would lose not one of them (Jn 6:39).
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Thus, we see this perfect redemption was planned from eternity, executed in time, securing an eternal inheritance. The old covenant prefigured the new covenant. Thus, the features of the earthly tabernacle all point to Jesus Christ, who fulfills every type and shadow. Jesus is not only the source of our eternal salvation (Heb 5:9); but His is the only name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). He saved us (Titus 3:5).
Redemption means a buy-back. Jesus is our Redeemer, who lives and ever lives to make intercession for us (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25), having ascended to heaven forty days after His resurrection from the dead. He was enthroned at the right hand of Majesty (Heb 1:3; 8:1), at the right hand of God His Father (Mk 16:19; Acts 2:33), and He reigns over the kingdom of God, forever, with an eternal dominion (Ex 15:18; Lk 1:33; Rev 11:15). Every knee must bow to Him, the King of glory and faithful high priest (Phil 2:10).
As citizens of His kingdom, we serve the living God as ambassadors for Christ with clean consciences, not just ceremonially cleaned flesh, as it was under the old covenant (9:14). There is no guilt or shame from sin to hinder our service to God. Saints do sin; but if we confess our sin to God, He is faithful and just to forgive us of sins (1 Jn 1:9), His having made purification for sins (Heb 1:3). His blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. He will preserve us until the day in which He will present us holy and blameless before the Father (Eph 1:4; 5:27; Col 1:22).
One may ask, “When did Jesus actually present Himself before God with His atoning blood?” He suffered and died on the cross, which was typified by the sacrifice on brazen altar. His tomb was the inner sanctuary, where, as the high priest He presented Himself and His precious blood at the mercy seat of the true tabernacle before emerging from that place — alive to the delight of His people. There was joy when the high priest of the old covenant could declare the forgiveness of sins before the waiting crowd in the outer courts.
The same eternal Spirit, who filled Jesus and was with Him through life, death, and resurrection, fill you with great joy in seeing you through them, too. You, believer in Jesus, have been set apart to be a beneficiary of Christ’s eternal redemption; therefore, with great joy and unending thanksgiving, make your boast in Him, our better high priest and better sacrifice, who loved us and gave Himself for us.
David Norczyk
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
June 22, 2025
Hebrews 9:11–14
