"He Sat Down!"

“After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” (Hebrews 1:3 ESV)

The writer of the Book of Hebrews wanted to make sure that his readers knew from the very beginning of his letter exactly who Jesus is. His letter shows that Jesus is far superior to every created being, far superior to the Old Testament sacrificial system, and far superior to the Old Testament priest. You see, this letter was written to believing and unbelieving Jews who were very familiar with the Old Testament Law of Moses and the Levitical sacrificial system.

Some of these readers were thinking of abandoning the New Covenant of salvation by grace and going back to the Old Covenant and the Mosaic Law, so the author spends his efforts showing these first-century Jews that salvation is in none other than our Lord Jesus.

To our twenty-first-century ears, the phrase “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,..” does not sound earth-shattering. To our non-Jewish ears, we say that it makes sense; once Jesus finished the sacrifice offering on the cross, shed His blood for our sins, and was resurrected to prove His dominion over death and sin, it makes sense that He sat down after the sacrifice was made. But to a first-century Jewish ear, this was indeed earth-shattering news.

You see, in the Old Testament Levitical law, the priest could never sit down while offering continual sacrifices for his and the people’s sins. There was never a time when sacrifices were finished because they continually sinned. As we are told in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death,” so ongoing sacrifices had to continue to secure forgiveness of the people’s sin for we know “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Heb. 9:22).

So, for a priest to “sit down” meant he was finished, and no more sacrifices would be offered. This was revolutionary to a Jewish reader: "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Heb. 10:14). You see, the offering that Jesus made was far superior to any offering ever made before. By Jesus’ death, a single offering was made once and for all time; sin had finally been conquered, death has been defeated, and Jesus was the sacrifice and, as the Priest, was able to sit down at the right hand of God, having shed His blood forgiving sins for all who will put their faith in His finished work on the Cross.

For the believer, this is such a great truth: all of our sins, past, present, and future sins, were forgiven by that one sacrifice of His blood being shed on the cross. Jesus does not have to continually be sacrificed on the cross to secure our forgiveness; He has met all requirements to secure our forgiveness; He shed His blood once and has “perfected for all time” those who have put their confidence and faith in Jesus.

So, believers, we can rest in the fact that all of our sins have been forgiven, Jesus has given us a gift of eternal life, and He is now sitting down at the right hand of God the Father. We find rest in Him and His finished work on the cross.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"