THE EXEGESIS OF GOD
(Part 2)
Heb. 1:3
Morning Meditation 8/16/2014
Verse 3 says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. ”
Todays meditation will be part 2 of verse 3. We saw yesterday that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. All that can be seen of God by the natural eye can be seen of Him in Christ. Jesus is the “express” or exact image of Him. Today we continue with this verse and will see that He did not just come to manifest God as Creator and Upholder of all creation but also Redeemer. There are three questions that the remainder of this verse will answer for us:
WHAT HE DID BY HIMSELF?
Our text says, “When he had by himself purged our sins.” The words “when he had purged” translate “poieo” and means, “to make, to be the author of, to provide a thing for one's self.” and “katharismos” and means, “a cleansing, purification, a ritual purgation or washing.” This word is used to describe, “ a cleansing from the guilt of sins wrought by the expiatory sacrifice of Christ.” This book is a book about Christ as our great High Priest. This is the first mention of what the High Priest does. He is a mediator. He is One who represents another. He stands is the place of the other and obtains forgiveness and cleansing from sin on the basis of sacrifice. The words “by Himself” means that He received no help from another. He is alone in His redemption of mankind through His substitutionary sacrifice.
In the Old Testament the high priest offered the blood of bulls and goats (Heb. 9:13; 10:4) which did not take away sin. These sacrifices were never meant to take away sin. The sacrifices were object lessons teaching that the forgiveness of sins is based on the death of the innocent in the place of the guilty. Jesus came to fulfill the picture made in these sacrifices. The verb here is an aorist middle participle. The aorist tense represents a point of time. The coming of Christ from birth until He took His own blood into the holiest in heaven and offered it there is represented by this point in time. It happened once for all and stands as a finished action eternally. It is a point of time divorced from time and perpetuated forever. The middle voice means that the subject (Jesus) acts and participates in the result of the action, i. e., He did it Himself and gained the forgiveness of Sins for everyone who would believe on Him. Jesus is Creator, He is the eternal Son existing in eternity past. He created the angels. They are faithful messengers and will carry out His order immediately on command. But this was not something He could delegate to another. He did this Himself. He became God in human flesh. He offered Himself as the spotless Lamb. He is not only the High Priest, He is also the Sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
This means that He did not start something when He came that we would have to finish later. He finished it here before He went back to heaven. Whatever the saint has to do to serve and please Him after salvation to maintain fellowship, it is not added to what Jesus did at the cross to complete it. What Jesus did on the cross, He completed, did it by Himself, and when He went back to heaven it was accepted as all that was required to make the guilty sinner right with God.
It goes like this. God created man and he sinned against Him. God was not satisfied to let His fallen creature remain eternally in that condition. Man’s fall rendered it impossible for him to meet God’s standards. God cannot in the nature of His being lower His standards and become less than He is to restore fellowship. So God became man (but not less than God) in order to be what was necessary (perfect) for man to fellowship with Himself. Jesus as a man was perfect. But there is more to it than that. Man’s sins must be paid for. Sin is a barrier between God and man. A holy God cannot remove that barrier and remain holy and just without the penalty being paid. So Jesus not only came to be what was necessary for fellowship to take place between God and man (perfect) but He also came to pay the penalty of man’s sins by dying in his place. Man could not participate in the Sacrifice because of his sins. So Jesus as a PERFECT MAN became the LAMB OF GOD to take man’s place before the throne of God’s justice and satisfy all that the demands of God’s holy law required as the payment for sin. What our text is saying is that He did this by Himself. So man’s sin (what he is by nature) and sins (what he does because of that nature), Jesus by Himself purged (at a point of time divorced from time and perpetuated forever) when He died on the cross. Now man is not only forgiven of his past, but is given the righteousness of Christ as a gift (Rom. 5:17) so that he stands before God as a forgiven sinner and perfect in Christ (Col. 2:10). Hallelujah!!! His standing is as sure as the standing of Christ is sure because he is accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6).
Next let’s look at,
WHAT HE DID AFTER HE DID IT BY HIMSELF?
Our text says He, “sat down.” and translates “kathizo” and means, “to take a seat.” Robertson says, “took His seat, a formal dignified act.” It is an aorist active indicative verb. This means that He took it an a point of time. I believe the point of time is after the ascension. It is His present posture.
Why is He sitting? Because what He came to do He finished. He has to do nothing else to secure man’s salvation. When a sinner comes to Him for salvation, he is forgiven because of the cross. It is simply, if we can call it simple, the application in the present of His finished work in the past.
Hebrews 1:13 says, “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” This statement is to show that Jesus is greater than the angels. But it also adds to the truth of out text. Jesus did not take His seat by force. His Father said to Him after His resurrection and ascension, “Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” So what does this mean? It means that God who is the righteous Judge invited Jesus to sit on His right hand because HE HAS ACCEPTED THE SACRIFICE. We do not have to worry if Christ has been accepted in our place. We are alive eternally in Him and accepted in His righteousness.
There was no place for the Old Testament priest to sit down. His work was never finished because animal sacrifices only PICTURED the Sacrifice that would take away sin. Hebrews 10:12-14 says, “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Notice He sat down because of the effects of the one sacrifice. He perfects forever those whom He sanctifies by the application of this one sacrifice. He waits now for God to make all His enemies His footstool. He expects this and the Father will fulfill His promise to His Son. And all that the Father puts under His feet will be under the Saints feet. Amen!
Next let’s look at,
WHERE HE IS AND WHAT IT MEANS?
Our text says He, “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” The “right hand” speaks of power and authority. This is brought out in the song of Moses in Exodus 15:6 where He says, “Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.” Let consider the following:
1. The power of God to save is in the person of Christ; Rom. 1:16.
1.The power of God to judge the world including Satan is in the person of Christ; Acts 17:31.
The word “Majesty” translates, “megalosune” and comes from the root word “megas” which means, “great..” It is used, “of the external form or sensible appearance of things (or of persons).” It is also “used of intensity and its degrees: with great effort, of the affections and emotions of the mind, of natural events powerfully affecting the senses: violent, mighty, strong.” When one thinks of the Majesty of God, the finite mind is incapable of comprehending it and words are feeble tools to describe it. All that is beautiful and majestic in glory is represented by this word. Power and power beyond human comprehension is in this word. Self existence without the need of another and unhindered and uninhibited in the true sense of the word is in this word Majesty.
If a natural man were to come into the presence of what is described by this word, he would disintegrate. This is what will happen to the unsaved at the great white throne judgment. Revelation 20:15 says, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” The word “cast” translates “ballo” and means, “to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls.” It means to hurl like a stone. It is aorist passive indicative. The aorist represents a sudden once for all act. The passive voice means it will happen to those whose names are not written in the book of life. It means that they will have no choice. It will happen to them, they will be completely unable to resist, and it will stand as permanent.
There is only one man who can exist in the presence of Majesty. And He is SITTING ON HIS RIGHT HAND. He lives there! He is truly man by virtue of His incarnation. He is in a glorified body that God prepared Him (Heb. 10:5). He has the capacity because of this body to live in the presence of Majesty. And because of Him we are on our way to this experience in eternity.
The exegesis of God. Jesus brought out the Mind of God as to His purpose concerning man. He brought out the truth that salvation is the result of what Christ did alone. He brought out where Jesus is today and how He got there. He brought out that all enemies of God in Christ will be eventually brought under the feet of Christ. That is what He waits on today with expectation. We as His children wait in Him and with Him. There is nothing to fear, all has been taken care of. Glory to God and the Lamb forever.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
