THE PRESENT WORK OF THE LIVING CHRIST

There are three tenses in salvation: past, present, and future. Three statements may be made regarding the sinner, which are apparently contradictory yet absolutely true: the believer has been saved, the believer is being saved, and the believer will be saved. There is a salvation that is to be appropriated in a moment of time by the sinner, that day by day is to be actualized in the believer’s life, that some future day will be fully accomplished. The work which the God-man began on the Cross for the sinner He continues on the throne for the saint.

The Divine-Human Mediator
There is, but one way of approaching God, whether for a sinner or saint and that is by way of Christ Jesus, the divine-human Mediator. The sinner cannot access God for salvation except through Christ.

John 14:6

“Jesus said unto him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

The saint has no way of approaching God for sanctification except through Christ.

Hebrews 7:25

“Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Whether we wish to be delivered out of the bondage of sin or to enter into the fullness of our glorious liberty as sons and heirs of God, we must do it through Christ. Through the mediation of Christ Jesus, we obtain life; through the same mediation, we obtain life more abundant. Our eternal inheritance is in Him. All blessings promised under the new covenant are hidden away in the God-man. The glorified Lord is the depository of all the spiritual treasures kept for God’s people. He holds them in trust to be bestowed by Him as Mediator when claimed by faith. The representative Man who was on the Cross as the sinner’s Substitute is on the throne as his Surety.

Hebrews 9:15

“And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

The Great High Priest
Just before Jesus gave up the ghost, He cried, “It is finished.” What was finished? The completion of His work as the Sacrifice for man’s sin. He Himself was that Sacrifice.

Hebrews 9:26

“For then would He have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once, in the end of the world, hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

But in olden times, the sacrifice made for sins had to be ministered by a priest. On the great day of atonement, the great high priest alone went into the Holy of Holies to offer the sacrifice for the people’s sins. The sacrifice would have been of no avail had it not been offered by a God-appointed, God-anointed priest. Christ is the Lamb of God offered as a Sacrifice to put away sin for us. But have we a Great High Priest who can act as minister of the sanctuary and make the Sacrifice for sin avail for our forgiveness, cleansing, and renewal? Praise God we have just such a Great High Priest.

Hebrews 8:1

“Now of the things of which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such a High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.”

Hebrews 10:12

“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down at the right hand of God.”

Hebrews 4:14

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed into the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our profession.”

The Man who was the Sacrifice also offered the sacrifice.

“It is finished” — “He sat down.”

The priest in olden times always stood; he never sat because his work was never finished, “for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). So, in those sacrifices, there was a remembrance year by year of sins (Hebrews 10:3). But when “this man had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,” then “He sat down.” A perfect Sacrifice for sin had been made; the Savior’s work was done.

Hebrews 7:26-27

^26 “For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; ²⁷ who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself.”

But so that the precious blood of the Lamb might avail for the believer’s forgiveness, cleansing, and renewal, a God-appointed, God-anointed high priest is needed. Such a Great High Priest Jesus Christ became. In virtue of His perfect life on earth, His perfect sacrifice upon the Cross, and His finished work for man’s redemption, the God-man sits at the right hand of God as our Great High Priest. He is there as our Forerunner, having made a blood-sprinkled path from earth to heaven — even into the Holy of Holies — for sinful men (Hebrews 6:20; 10:19). He is there as our Representative before God, “a merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.” While down here on earth, He was tempted in all points like as we are, so He is a High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:14-15). He knows our trials, afflictions, disappointments, difficulties, sufferings, and sorrows, for He has met and passed through them on earth. Therefore, He is now able to succor them that are tempted (Hebrews 2:18).

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Oh Lord, You are our Great High Priest, seated in the heavenlies, interceding daily for us.