OTHERWISE, HE WOULD HAVE NEEDED TO SUFFER OFTEN
SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD: epei edei (3SIAI) auton
pollakis pathein (AAN) apo kataboles kosmou: (Matthew
25:34;
John 17:24;
1 Peter 1:20;
Revelation 13:8;
17:8)
Otherwise (1893)
(epei) in this context means "inasmuch as".
Expositor's Greek
Testament writes that...
If Christ’s one offering of Himself were
not eternally efficacious, if it required periodical renewal, then this
demanded periodical sacrifice. It was ‘not without blood’ that the entrance
was made, and if the entrance required repetition, so must the sacrifice be
repeated.
If His offering of Himself were not
independent of time and valid as a single act, if it were valid only for the
generation for whom it was immediately made, then in order to benefit men in
the past, He must have suffered often, indeed in each generation of the past
He would have
needed (1163)(dei
from deo = to bind or tie
objects together, put in prison and also root of
doulos, bond-servant) refers
to what is not optional but needful (binding) out of intrinsic necessity or
inevitability. Dei refers to inward constraint which is why it is
often translated "must". Dei describes that which is under the
necessity of happening or which must necessarily take place, often with the
implication of inevitability.
Suffer
(3958)
(pascho) means to experience a
sensation or feeling which comes from outside of one's self and which has to
be suffered. It means to undergo an experience, usually difficult,
normally with implication of physical or psychological suffering.
Often
(4178)
(pollakis from from polus = many + suffix -kis =
numerical term denoting frequency) means many times or frequently.
Foundation
(2602) (katabole
from kataballo = to throw down from kata = down + ballo
= throw, cast) is literally a casting down or laying down. The original idea
was the laying down of the foundation of a house.
Katabole was a technical term for putting seed into the ground, it is
also used of the role of the male in impregnating the female and there is
one such use in
Hebrews 11:11,
referring to the casting in or sowing of seed, conveying the idea of
begetting.
TDNT adds that katabole meant...
“laying down,” is used for, e.g., the casting of seed, human begetting, the
sowing of war, and the establishment of government.
Ten of the 11 NT uses of katabole (there are no uses in the
LXX) are in the phrase "foundation of the
world". Here are the uses in Hebrews...
Hebrews 4:3 (note)
For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore
in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest," although His works were finished
from the foundation of the world.
Hebrews 9:26 (note)
Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the
world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Hebrews 11:11 (note)
By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the
proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised;
World
(2889)
(kosmos) refers to orderly arrangement.
Vincent
comments...
For, from the foundation of the
world, sin required atonement by sacrifice; and, therefore, if Christ
had been a victim like others, which must be offered repeatedly, he would
have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. If his
sacrifice, like the animal atonements, had availed for a time only, he would
have been obliged to repeat his
offering whenever that time expired; and, since his atonement was
designed to be universal, it would have been necessary for him to appear
repeatedly upon earth, and to die repeatedly from the foundation of the
world. Comp.
1 Peter 1:20 (note);
Revelation 13:8 (note).
(Ibid)
BUT NOW ONCE AT THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGES:
nuni de hapax epi sunteleia ton aionon:
(Heb
1:2;
Isaiah 2:2;
Daniel 10:14;
Micah 4:1;
1 Corinthians 10:11;
Galatians 4:1;
Ephesians 1:10;
1 Peter 1:20)
Now
(3570)(nun)
is an word which is used as a direct antithesis to something done in past.
Once
(530)
(hapax) once for all time.
Cole
writes that Christ's...
one sacrifice at the consummation
of the ages put away our sin (see note
Hebrews 9:26).
“The consummation of the ages” is similar to Paul’s phrase in
Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent
forth His Son….” It implies the preexistence of Christ before His
birth. It also means that the cross represents the apex or
consummation of God’s purpose of the ages, to glorify Himself.
At the cross, God’s perfect justice was displayed. If He had simply
forgiven our sins without the payment of the penalty, He would not
have been just. The death of the infinite, holy Son of God satisfied
God’s wrath by paying the penalty we deserved. The cross also
magnified God’s amazing love and grace. Any system of salvation that
magnifies human merit or minimizes the cross is not from God.
At the cross, Christ “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”
(9:26). The Greek word for “put away” is used only in 7:18, where it
refers to the “setting aside” of the Law that established the
Levitical priesthood in deference to the greater Melchizedek
priest-hood of Jesus. “Put away” “is used in a technical, juristic
sense,” “meaning ‘to annul’ or ‘cancel’” (Morris, p. 93). Philip
Hughes (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews [Eerdmans], p. 385)
states, “This nullification, moreover, is comprehensive: it covers sin
in its totality, without qualification, in every form and degree and
also in every age of human history, retrospectively as well as
prospectively.” This means that when Christ died, He paid the penalty
for the sins of all of His elect both before and after the cross.
Consummation
(4930)
(sunteleia from sún = together or an intensifier + teléo
= to finish) describes the bringing of something to a successful finish.
The word hapax with the meaning of once and for all is
stressed in Heb9:26 in regard to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as
contrasted by the appearance of the high priest every year in the Holy of
Holies (Heb 9:25). Hapax in this sense means that this was the first and last
time that Christ’s offering was made, and it was made for the
once–and–for–all removal of sin.
The idea of the perpetual offering of Christ is a heretical doctrine that
for many centuries has contradicted this and the many other clear biblical
teachings about the finished work of Christ. It maintains that, inasmuch as
the priesthood of Christ is perpetual and sacrifice is an essential part of
priesthood, therefore the sacrificial offering of Christ must also be
perpetual.
Ages (165)
(aion) is here
plural to imply that the course of history is regarded as a succession of
various periods, of which the appearance of Christ forms the conclusion. The
phrase the end of the ages designates the present age as the last of a
series. It marks the end of human history as we now know it and will
terminate in the events which Jesus foretold would occur “at the end of the
age” (Mt 24,25).
His one sacrifice of Himself was made at the consummation of the ages. The
epistles confirm this.
“Children, it is the last hour” (1Jn 2:18)
“For the
coming of the Lord is at hand” (Ja 5:8)
“The end of all things is at hand”
(see note
1 Peter 4:7).
Consummation of the
ages - Vincent explains that...
The true sense is the consummation of the
ages: that is to say, Christ appeared when the former ages had reached their
moral consummation under the old Levitical economy. (Ibid)
The consummation of the ages was
manifest by Christ's fully satisfactory sacrifice at Calvary and thus it is
little
wonder that the the apostles and first century church expected Jesus to return at any moment and set up His
kingdom to establish the messianic age (see
Millennium), “the age to come” (Mt 12:32).
Until that age, His promise is "Lo I am with you always even to the end
of the age".
(Mt 28:20). The crucifixion of Christ marked the consummation of the ages because of His once and for
all sacrifice. The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, did not
simply "cover" sin like the OT sacrifices but He actually put away or
removed sin.
All the eras and ages came together and were consummated in the coming of
the Messiah. The eschatological era was inaugurated and thus Paul wrote...
But when the fulness of the time came,
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal. 4:4).
Vine notes that...
Taking the order of the words in the
original, the clause “at the end of the ages” is to be connected with
“to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Christ was manifested
in incarnation for the purpose of putting away sin. It was at the
consummation of the ages that He offered Himself in sacrifice at
Calvary. All ages prior to that event looked on to it; all succeeding ages
will look back to it. The Cross was ever in view in the eternal counsels of
God in the past, it ever is before Him, and always will be, in the ages to
come. The dispensational and providential dealings of God with men in the
past ages were preparatory to this great act of redeeming grace and mercy.
And from it has come, and will come, every blessing that God has for any of
His creatures. The work of the Cross thus forms the pivot of all God’s
counsels and acts in regard to man and to creation at large.
(Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
or
Logos)
Spurgeon writes
that...
THE TWO GREAT links between earth and
heaven are the two advents of our Lord: or, rather, he is the great bond of
union, by these two appearings. When the world had revolted, and God had
been defied by his own creatures, a great gulf was opened between God and
man. The first coming of Christ was like a bridge which crossed the chasm
and made a way of access from God to man, and then from man to God. Our
Lord's second advent will make that bridge far broader, until heaven shall
come down to earth, and ultimately earth shall go up to heaven. At these two
points a sinful world is drawn into closest contact with a gracious God.
Jesus herein is seen as opening the door which none can shut, by means of
which the Lord is beheld as truly Emmanuel, God with us.
Here, too, is the place for us to build a
grand suspension bridge, by which, through faith, we ourselves may cross
from this side to the other of the stormy river of time. The cross, at whose
feet we stand, is the massive column which supports the structure on this
side; and as we look forward to the glory, the second advent of our Lord is
the solid support on the other side of the deep gulf of time. By faith we
first look to Jesus, and then for Jesus; and herein is the life of our
spirits. Christ on the cross of shame, and Christ on the throne of glory, we
dwell between these two boundaries: these are our Dan and Beersheba, and all
between is holy ground. As for our Lord's first coming, there lies our rest:
the once-offered Sacrifice hath put away our sin, and made our peace with
God. As for his second coming, there lies our hope, our joy; for we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he
is. The glories of his sacred royalty shall be repeated in all the saints;
for he hath made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign with
him for ever and ever. At his first advent we adore him with gratitude
rejoicing in "God with us", as making himself to be our near kinsman. We
gather with grateful boldness around the infant in the manger, and behold
our God. But in the second advent we are struck with a solemn reverence, a
trembling awe. We are not less grateful, but we are more prostrate as we bow
before the majesty of the triumphant Christ. Jesus in his glory is an
overpowering vision. John, the beloved disciple, writes, "When I saw him, I
fell at his feet as dead." We could have kissed his feet till he quitted us
on Olivet; but at the sight of the returning Lord, when heaven and earth
shall flee away, we bow in lowliest adoration. His first appearing has given
us that life and holy confidence with which we press forward to his glorious
appearing, which is the crown of all.
I want, at this time, to bring before you
those two appearings of our Lord. The text says, "He hath appeared"; and
again, "He shall appear." The twenty-sixth verse speaks of his unique
manifestation already accomplished, and the twenty-eighth verse promises the
glorious second outshining, as it promises, "He shall appear." Between these
two lights-"he hath appeared" and "he shall appear"-we shall sail safely, if
the Holy Spirit will direct our way.
My first head is this, once, and no
second; and my other division of discourse will make a kind of paradox, but
not a contradiction-yet a second.
I. Our first theme is, ONCE, AND NO
SECOND.
Now once in the end of the world hath
he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."
This he has done once, and he will never
repeat it. Let us dwell on the subject in detail.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has once appeared,
and though he will appear again, it will not be for the same purpose. On his
first appearing fix your thoughts; for the like of it will never be seen
again. In the bosom of the Father he lay concealed as God; as the second
person of the divine Trinity in Unity he could not be seen, for "no man hath
seen God at any time." It is true that "without him was not anything made
that was made"; and thus his hand was seen in his works; but as to himself,
he was still hidden; revealed in type and prophecy, but yet in fact
concealed. Jesus was not manifest to the sons of men, until one midnight an
angel hastened from the skies, and bade the shepherds know that unto them
was born in Bethlehem a Saviour, that is Christ the Lord. Then the rest of
the angelic host, discovering that one of their number had gone before them
on so wonderful an errand, were swift to overtake him; and in one mass of
glittering glory they filled the midnight skies with heavenly harmony as
they sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will
toward men." Well might they sing; for the Son of God now appeared. In the
manger he might be seen with the eyes, and looked upon, and handled; for
there the Word was made flesh, and God was incarnate. He whom the ages could
not contain, the glorious One who dwelt with the Father for ever unseen, now
appeared within the bounds of time and space, and humble shepherds saw him,
and adored. By Gentiles he was seen; for wise men from the East beheld and
worshipped him whose star had led them. As he grew up, the children of
Nazareth beheld him as a child obedient to his parents; and by-and-by he was
made manifest to men by the witness of John and the descent of the Holy
Ghost upon him at his baptism. God bore him witness as he went up and down
the hills of Palestine preaching the kingdom and proclaiming salvation to
the sons of men. Men saw him; for he spake among them openly, and walked in
their midst. His was not the seclusion of dignity, but the manifestation of
sympathy. "He went about doing good." He was seen of angels, for they came
and ministered unto him; and he was seen of devils, for they trembled at his
word. He dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory: he was the revelation of
God to men, so that he could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father." He was made still more manifest by his death; for in his
crucifixion he was lifted up from the earth, that all might behold him. He
was exalted upon the cross, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, on purpose that whosoever looked to him might live. There and
then he opened those four conspicuous founts of cleansing blood which were
made to flow by the nails. See how it flows from hands and feet! There, too,
he laid bare his side, and set his heart abroach for dying men, and
forthwith there flowed forth blood and water. Thus we may look into his
inmost heart. High on the cross the Saviour hung, without veil or curtain to
conceal him. "Once in the end of the world hath he appeared." I know of no
appearance that could have been more complete, more unreserved. He moved in
the midst of crowds, he spake to men and women one by one. He was on the
mountain, and by the sea; he was in the desert, and by the river; he was
both in house and in temple; he was everywhere accessible; in the fullest
sense "once in the end of the world hath he appeared." Oh, the glory of this
gracious epiphany! This is the greatest event in history: the invisible God
has appeared in human form.
TO PUT AWAY SIN
The text tells us very precisely that in
this first coming of our Lord he appeared to put away sin. Notice
that fact. By his coming and sacrifice he accomplished many things; but his
first end and object was "to put away sin." You know what the modern
babblers say: they declare that he appeared to reveal to us the goodness and
love of God. This is true; but it is only the fringe of the whole truth. The
fact is, that he revealed God's love in the provision of a sacrifice to put
away sin. Then, they say that he appeared to exhibit perfect manhood, and to
let us see what our nature ought to be. Here also is a truth; but it is only
part of the sacred design. He appeared, say they, to manifest
self-sacrifice, and to set us an example of love to others. By his
self-denial he trampled on the selfish passions of man. We deny none of
these things; and yet we are indignant at the way in which the less is made
to hide the greater. To put the secondary ends into the place of the grand
object is to turn the truth of God into a lie. It is easy to distort truth,
by exaggerating one portion of it and diminishing another; just as the
drawing of the most beautiful face may soon be made a caricature rather than
a portrait by neglect of proportion. You must observe proportion if you
would take a truthful view of things; and in reference to the appearing of
our Lord, his first and chiefest purpose is "to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself." The great object of our Lord's coming here was not to
live, but to die. He hath appeared, not so much to subdue sin by his
teaching, as to put it away by the sacrifice of himself. The master purpose
which dominated all that our Lord did, was not to manifest goodness, nor to
perfect an example, but to put away sin by sacrifice. That which the moderns
would thrust into the background, our Lord placed in the forefront. He came
to take away our sins, even as the scapegoat typically carried away the sin
of Israel into the wilderness that the people might be clean before the
living God. The Lord Jesus has come hither as a priest to remove sin from
his people: "Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins." Do not
let us think of Jesus without remembering the design of his coming. I pray
you, brethren, know not Christ without his cross, as some pretend to know
him. We preach Christ; so do a great many more: but, "we preach Christ
crucified"; so do not so many more. We preach concerning our Lord, his
cross, his blood, his death; and upon the blood of his cross we lay great
stress, extolling much "the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot." We know no past appearing of God in human flesh
except that appearing which ended with a sacrifice to put away sin. For this
our Saviour came, even to save sinners by putting away their sin. We will
not deny, nor conceal, nor depreciate his master purpose, lest we be found
guilty of trampling upon his blood, and treating it as an unholy thing. The
putting away of sin was a Godlike purpose; and it is a wellspring of hope to
us, that for this reason Jesus appeared among men.
Let us go a step further with our text:
once only does the Lord appear for purpose of putting away sin. He came once
to do it, and he has done it so well that there is no need for him to offer
any further sacrifice.
"This man, after that he had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down."
He will never appear a second time for
the putting away of sin. It was his purpose once; but he has so fulfilled it
that it will never be his purpose again. The high priest, as you know, came
every year with blood for the putting away of sin. He has slain the victim
this year, but next year he must come in the same manner, and the next, and
the next, and the next; because the sacrifice had not really removed the
guilt; but our Lord has come once for this divine purpose; and he has so
achieved that purpose that he could truly cry, "It is finished"; for the
work is done once for all. He has so perfectly put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself that he will never need to offer a second sacrifice. That our
Lord should ever come a second time as he came the first time is
inconceivable by those who love him. He will come a second time, but in a
very different style, and for a very different purpose; not as a sacrifice
for sins, but as King and Judge.
And here learn yet further, that once
only is sin put away. Jesus died to finish transgression and make an end of
sin. Our Lord made atonement for sin when he died the just for the unjust:
he made peace for us when the chastisement of our peace was upon him. When
the Lord had laid upon him the iniquity of us all, divine wrath fell upon
him on account of our sins, until he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me." Then sin was put away. There, but never anywhere else, was
full atonement presented, and iniquity was blotted out. There is no other
place of expiation for sin but the place of our Lord's sacrifice of himself.
Believing in him that died on the cross, our sins are put away; but without
faith in him there is no remission of sin. Beyond our Lord's, other
sacrifice there is none; other sacrifice there will never be. If any of you
here are entertaining some "larger hope", I would say to you-Hope what you
please; but remember, that hope without truth at the bottom of it, is an
anchor without a holdfast. A groundless hope is a mere delusion. Wish what
you will; but wishes without promises from God to back them, are vain
imaginings. Why should you imagine or wish for another method of salvation?
Rest you assured that the Lord God thinks so highly of the one sacrifice for
sin, that for you to desire another is evil in his sight. If you reject the
one sacrifice of the Son of God, there remains no hope for you; nor ought
there to be. Our Lord's way of putting away sin is so just to God, so
honoring to the law, and so safe for you, that if you reject it your blood
must be on your own head. By once offering up himself to God, our Lord has
done what myriads of years of repentance and suffering could never have
done. Blessed be the name of the Lord, the sin of the world, which kept God
from dealing with men at all, was put away by our Lord's death! John the
Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world." God has been able to deal with the world of sinners in a way of
grace, because Jesus died. I thank our Lord even more, because the actual
sins of his own chosen-even of all those who believe on him in every
age-have been put away. These sins were laid on him; and in him God visited
man for them. "He his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree";
and so put them away for ever, and they are cast into the depths of the sea.
The putting away of my guilt as a believer was really, effectually, and
eternally accomplished by the death of thy great Substitute upon the bloody
tree. This is the ground of our everlasting consolation and good hope
through grace. Jesus did it alone; he did not only seem to do it, but he
actually achieved the putting away of sin. He blotted out the handwriting
that was against us. He finished transgression and made an end of sin; and
brought in everlasting righteousness when once for all he died upon the
cross.
Beloved, there is a further note here:
observe that once only hath he made a sacrifice of himself. "Now once in the
end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself." The very best way to describe the death of our Lord is to call it
"the sacrifice of himself." It may be well rightly to divide the sacrifice,
as the priest cut up the bullock or the ram. You may speak of our Lord's
bodily sufferings, his mental griefs, and his spiritual anguish; but for the
most part we are not able to go far in this detailed appreciation of the
wondrous sacrifice. We are such poor folk in spiritual things, that instead
of bringing a bullock which could be anatomized and its vital organs all
laid bare, we are content to bring a pair of turtle doves, or two young
pigeons; and these were not carefully divided asunder, but burned upon the
altar. The most of us have to take our Lord Jesus Christ as a whole; since,
from want of understanding, we cannot go into detail. What did he offer to
God? He made a sacrifice of himself. Truly he sacrificed his crown, his
rest, his honor, his reputation, and his life; but the essence of the
sacrifice was himself: Himself took our iniquity, and bare our sorrows. "He
his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." Thy sacrifice, O
Christ, is not to be measured unless we could compute the infinity of thy
Godhead. It was not only thy labor, thy pain, thy shame, thy death; thy
sacrifice was thyself; what more couldest even thou offer? There, on the
altar, the Son of God did place himself, and there he bled and died that he
might be the victim of punitive justice, the substitute for guilty men.
There was he unto God a sweet-smelling savor, because he vindicated the law,
and made it possible for the Lawgiver to be justly merciful. This, according
to our text, was done once, and only once, and it never will be repeated; so
that the whole business of our Lord's appearing to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself, is confined to one appearing and one offering. I want
that word "ONE" to ring in your ears. "By one offering he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified." I would have the adverb "once" go through
every ear, and abide in every heart. "By his own blood he entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Peter says,
"Christ also hath once suffered for sins." (Hebrews 9:26-28 Between the Two Appearings)
><> ><> ><>
Finished! -
Outside Madrid stands an ancient monastery where the kings of Spain have
been buried. The architect designed an elongated arch so flat that the
reigning monarch insisted it could not hold the structure above it.
Against the architect's protest, the king ordered that a column be placed
underneath the arch as a safety precaution. After the king died, the
architect revealed that he had deliberately made the column a quarter of an
inch too short--and the arch had never sagged!
Nothing need be, or can be, added to the finished work of Christ on Calvary
to sustain the weight of the world's salvation. Our Savior's cry from the
cross, "It is finished!" (Jn. 19:30), is a translation of a single Greek
word which more literally could be rendered as "Ended!" "Completed!" or
"Accomplished!"
That one word tells of the greatest miracle our Lord performed, the work of
redeeming a lost world. Because our redemption was perfectly finished, it is
impossible for us to add even one submicroscopic work of our own to what was
already done on the cross.
With utter assurance, then, we can rest our eternal hope on that one
all-important word, "Finished!" —Vernon C Grounds (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Once for all, O sinner,
receive it!
Once for all, O brother, believe it!
Cling to the cross, the burden will fall.
Christ has redeemed us once for all. --Bliss
(Play
Free From the Law)
We are saved not by what we do but by what Christ has done
HE HAS BEEN MANIFESTED
TO PUT AWAY SIN BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF: eis athetesin (tes) hamartias dia tes
thusias autou pephanerotai (3SRPI):
(Heb
9:12;
7:27;
10:4,10;
Leviticus 16:21,22;
2 Samuel 12:13;
24:10;
Job 7:21;
Daniel 9:24;
John 1:29;
1 Peter 2:24;
3:18;
1 John 3:5)
(14;
10:12,26;
Ephesians 5:2;
