Keith Bates

Reflection on Hebrews 9:23-28

Thursday, 5. November 2009, 01:58:41

Scripture

We die only once and then we are judged.

Observation

All of the temples, sacrifices, tabernacles and so one, al of the paraphernalia of the Jewish religious system are just copies of what is in heaven. They are a picture, a physical representation of the heavenly, spiritual realm

So although the physical copy is cleansed through regular sacrifices in the temple, the real work of reconciliation takes place in heaven through the one true sacrifice of Christ the perfect Son of God.

The sacrifice of Christ can happen only once because He is perfect and because He can only die once.

We die once and then are judged. He died once to save us through the judgement.

Application

Christ's death is the end of religion- it is anti-religion. Sacrifices, vows, striving to please an unknown God, are all done away with. The copy is no longer needed because God's own perfect sacrifice is here.

All of our attempts to please God are exposed as feeble and ineffective. The perfect sacrifice does away with it all.

Jesus will not save us from judgement but He does save us through judgement. He is our advocate, the one who guarantees that we will be found innocent.

We die just once- there is only one life to be lived on this planet. There is no endless cycle of karma and reincarnation- just the one judgement and the offer of the free grace of God. In that sense Jesus saves us from reincarnation and from the iron law of karma. God's grace triumphs over all religion.

Prayer

Lord Jesus you have paid the price for my sin. I thank you for setting me free through your perfect sacrifice. Amen.

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Comments

cakkleberrylane # 5. November 2009, 11:46

Keith - I have always wondered about the definition of death in this passage. I remember a pastor mentioning that in many cases there was only one word in English, but several different words in the languages the Bible was translated from. Is this physical death? I've always assumed it was, but maybe I'm wrong.

newlifenarrabri # 6. November 2009, 01:58

I would assume it's physical death, as it's in the context of the sacrifice of animals and Jesus being our sacrifice.

Other parts of the New Testament talk about death for believers as being like sleep.

Revelation talks about the second death which is the "real" death as it were, which comes after the judgment and is described in Revelation as the Lake of Fire.

We talk about "dying inside', "dying for a drink", "emotionally dead" and so on although we would see these as figurative terms. The Bible uses similar language i.e. death as a figure of something else. But in real language, it's just physical death and then the "spiritual" death.

cakkleberrylane # 7. November 2009, 11:09

Thank you so much!