Hebrews 7:23-25 - Complete to the Uttermost Forever
- Chad Werkhoven
- 13 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Your salvation is secure because your Savior always lives to intercede for you!
Hebrews 7:23-25 (NIV)
CONTEXT: One of the key themes of Hebrews is 'Jesus is better than...'. He's better than the angels, better than Moses, and in this particular section of the book demonstrates how He's better than any earthly priest.
23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Canons of Dordt
Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints
Article 8: The Certainty of This Preservation
It is
not by our own merits or strength
but by God’s undeserved mercy
that we
neither forfeit faith and grace totally
nor remain in our downfalls to the end and are lost.
With respect to ourselves
this not only easily could happen,
but also undoubtedly would happen;
but with respect to God
it cannot possibly happen,
since
his plan cannot be changed,
his promise cannot fail,
the calling according to his purpose cannot be revoked,
the merit of Christ as well as his interceding and preserving cannot be nullified,
and the sealing of the Holy Spirit can neither be invalidated nor wiped out.
Summary
If the final verse of our short passage today were the only explanation we had about who Jesus is and what He's accomplished and continues to do, it would be enough! Hebrews 7:25 makes three hugely significant claims about who Jesus is and what He's done and will always do for your salvation.
First, you can know that Jesus is able to save you completely. This is one of those fascinating words that gets rendered differently across various Bible translations. The ESV says that Jesus is able to save you to the uttermost. Both of these translations explain that Jesus has done everything necessary to redeem and restore you - nothing else is required! It's from phrases like this that the phrase Solus Christus (Christ Alone) was added to the Reformation motto.
But the LSB adds an interesting twist to the word in its translation: Jesus is able to save forever! This is the case as well, for it only makes sense that if you've been completely saved to the uttermost, then such a salvation should last for all eternity. It's verses like this one that form the foundation of this comforting doctrine that we call the perseverance of the saints.
Secondly, this verse adds a bit of tensegrity (the good tension that maintains integrity) to our theology of salvation by Christ alone: Although Christ saves completely, He doesn't just dole it out from afar. Rather, He gives it to those who come to God through Him. We've already been reminded this year that the reason you're able to come is because God has sovereignly called and equipped you to do so, but the fact remains that salvation is not passively received. You must come!
Dig Deeper
It's the third aspect of this short verse that brings us to it today: Jesus always lives to intercede for you. Commentator RT France unpacks what this means and why it's so important:
The primary sense in which we come to God through Jesus is that he has offered on our behalf the perfect sacrifice. But the priests in the OT had also another function, not so often mentioned—the role of intercession for the people before God (perhaps best exemplified by Moses, but also symbolized in the high priest’s “bearing the names of the sons of Israel over his heart … as a continuing memorial before the LORD,” Ex 28:29), and that role too is fulfilled by our high priest. Whereas his sacrifice was offered once for all, his intercession continues, and that is why we need a high priest who always lives. While he was on earth, Jesus prayed for his people, and Paul speaks in Romans 8 not only of the Spirit pleading on our behalf but also of Jesus interceding for us at God’s right hand. The theme may not be frequently mentioned, but it is a vital source of pastoral assurance and one without which the process of our salvation would be incomplete (Hebrews 9:24).
Remember that Jesus' title of Christ means that He's anointed to be our Prophet, Priest and King. Whereas a prophet represents God to the people, a priest represents the people to God. Know that your salvation is secure because your Savior, who has a perfect and permanent priesthood, always lives to intercede for you!
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who welcomes all who come to Him through Jesus;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would trust Christ completely, to the uttermost and forever for your salvation since He intercedes for you;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Thessalonians 5
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